LIFE |CREATIVITY |INSPIRATION

Answers to Two Unbelievable Truths and One Believable Lie

Sincere thanks for playing along everyone

I would like to start by expressing my heartfelt thank you to Dr. Preeti Singh for tagging me in this adventure and with her encouragement, I took this challenge of revealing some truths about my life.

Here my story

Incident #1: A close brush with death

As a teenager, I was caught in the midst of riots and was in a bus set on fire near the largest hospital in New Delhi. We had to jump out of the window to escape the raging fire with the rioters screaming, running behind us, “Look, they’re alive.”

The police sirens made them turn away from our pursuit, but we had to keep walking for hours to find a safe place to hide. The city’s busiest street had turned into a haunting, eerie place with fires, gunshots, and jeeps full of people playing havoc with the people’s lives and properties.

One of the scariest moments of my life was when I saw the consequence of hatred and fearmongering, making people act like animals.

It was 1st November 1984, and the capital city’s police had made the All-India Medical Institute a fortress after the Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi’s fatal shooting by her bodyguard a day before. My aunt was hospitalized in the same hospital, and I stayed with her for two days while other family members were on their way as she was having major surgery.

We were casually chatting with the surgeon, who was also a family friend, when we heard the loudest bang, and the front gates of the hospital were crashed down by barging emergency vehicles. I saw the behind-the-scenes chaos when India was without a prime minister for some hours and how the news was shared with the public. More efforts were being made to welcome the dignitaries into the capital than to ensure the public’s safety.

While the police were taking care of the guests in our capital, some opportunists planned revenge against the entire community (the Sikh community).

When I stepped out to board a bus in front of the hospital, a private bus that would have taken us directly to our destination in about 40 minutes was stopped.

A group of people with swords and batons entered the bus and allowed some people based on their religious identity to get out, I was assumed to be the targeted community member and torched the bus. The rest of us had to flee, jumping out of the bus’s windows.

Answer # It’s the truth. I have added a link to this news, as well.

Thank you so much for responding and choosing this one as truth.

I’m elated to know that my readers know me so well. Thank you for reading, responding, and choosing to participate 💕💕 :

Boateng Sekyere responded that such horrid incidents don’t happen today and thought this one was a half-truth. I wish all human beings had such high moral ethics. Unfortunately, there have been other cases of people being burnt alive in trains and buses.

Incident # 2: A mere happenstance

My immigration application was processed within a week due to a casual conversation with the immigration lawyer while waiting for a coffee order that family members had gone to pick up.

He wanted to know about my educational background, and when I told him my dissertation topic, we continued discussing my research methodologies about Indian urbanization for hours. To my utter surprise, he was a frequent visitor to Delhi and loved everything the city offers-especially the rich cultural history.

If his coffee order had come on time, my life would have been different as there were no plans to include me in the immigration process. Fortunately, my academic background paved the way for me to become the principal applicant for Canadian immigration.

I have hinted at my failed marriage in earlier posts and stories. All I can say is that I had become a different person whose actions could be easily predicted for the entertainment of the guests.

Surprisingly, I used to do the exact things so much that I started believing that I was a nervous, forgetful, accident-causing, and spendthrift woman who had no business running a household or taking care of two children.

No attention was paid to the fact that I was a history teacher and department head of an Indian Embassy school with more than 7000 students. Even I never gave any importance to my achievements and even forgot about my qualifications, other assets, or connections with the people.

Anyhow, if the lawyer had not asked me a question to fill the awkward silence that day, my life would have been totally different.

Answer # Truth

Thank you so much everyone for responding. ❤️❤️ Thief Sinus Kosinus and B.R. Shenoy Annelise Lords thought this one is a lie. I think it was because of the speedy process.

To answer the question, how is it processed so fast? Well, the lawyer had connections. I provided all the documents needed to accelerate the process with the help of colleagues, school directors (who were Indian diplomats), and my students’ parents (who belonged to the royal family of Saudi Arabia)

Incident # 3: Never wanted a pet because of sinus allergies

Life was already hectic in 2012, dealing with two difficult teenagers, an aging mother, and a full-time teaching load, so all my daughter’s pleas to adopt a pet were dismissed. I only agreed to adopt the cat if it would never enter my room, nor would I be doing any of its chores. Also, it was stipulated that if there were any kind of disturbance during the night, it would be sent away to the shelter the next day.

I remained adamant despite my daughter’s anguish and true to my warning. The cat my daughter adopted with a lot of fanfare was sent back to the shelter after two days because it was making too much noise with its bell in the night, disturbing my beauty sleep.

Every part of this story is true until the arrival of Luke at our house, and we all fell in love with him within a few minutes, especially me. You all know about our love story. As far as the noise is concerned, I put more bells in his collar so I would know his exact location if he went out of sight.

Answer: Lie

Thank you for guessing it correctly. More than me, Luke appreciates your responses. 😼😻

The winners are all of you, thank you for knowing me so well: Dr. Preeti Singh William J Spirdione Neera Handa Dr Pene Hodge Freda Savahl pockett dessert Jenine Bsharah Baines Annelise Lords T Mann Hermione Wilds Writes Ali Monoreena Acharjee Majumdar Genius Dog Myriam Ben Salem🦋

Other kind readers were also so eloquent with their responses. ❤️💕 Jennifer Thompson Benito Bartolo.

I want to give a shout-out to two outstanding articles I read on Reciprocal today.

The first one is by Victoria Gregg on rainbows that brought a bout of excitement on a cloudy Monday:

The second one is by Raghviberianand on a topic that brought me goosebumps (reminded me of my past).

Forever grateful to everyone for your precious time and generous support. Stay blessed, and motivated, and live your life to the fullest. ❤️❤️❤️❤️🙏🙏🙏🙏

Find me on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram

Support my writing and get access to unlimited stories by becoming a member and clicking this link: https://faimam.medium.com/membership